A North London Dispatch
Matchweek 34 of 38
Five league games left · Eight if we go the distance
Title Race ’25/26 · The finish
Five league matchdays to decide it. Every remaining fixture — form, standings, rest — side by side.
01
The Run-in, Side by Side
fixture · opposition form · what they’re playing for
Arsenal
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Goal Diff
—
April1 match left
25Apr · Sat
Newcastle
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Emirates · 5 days rest
Last 5
HSafe5 rest
29Apr · Wed
Atlético Madrid
Champions League · Semi-final · Leg 1
Metropolitano · 3 days rest
AUCL3 rest
May6 matches to the finish
02May · Sat
Fulham
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Emirates · 2 days rest
Last 5
HSafe2 rest
05May · Tue
Atlético Madrid
Champions League · Semi-final · Leg 2
Emirates · 2 days rest
HUCL2 rest
10May · Sun
West Ham
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London Stadium · 4 days rest
Last 5
ACompeting4 rest
17May · Sun
Burnley
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Emirates · 6 days rest
Last 5
HEliminated6 rest
24May · Sun
Crystal Palace
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Selhurst · 6 days rest
Last 5
ASafe6 rest
30May · Sat
Champions League Final
Final · opponent TBD
Neutral venue · 5 days rest
NUCL Final5 rest
April1 cup tie
25Apr · Sat
Southampton
FA Cup · Semi-final · 19th, relegated in league
Wembley · 5 days rest
NFA Cup5 rest
May6 leagues + FA Cup final
04May · Mon
Everton
loading standings…
Hill Dickinson Stadium · 8 days rest
Last 5
ACompeting8 rest
09May · Sat
Brentford
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Etihad · 4 days rest
Last 5
HCompeting4 rest
16May · Sat
FA Cup Final
Final · opponent TBD
Wembley · 6 days rest
NFA Cup Final6 rest
17May · Sun
Bournemouth · may be rescheduled
loading standings…
Vitality · same-day turnaround
Last 5
ACompeting0 rest
22May · Fri
Crystal Palace
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Etihad · 4 days rest
Last 5
HSafe4 rest
24May · Sun
Aston Villa
loading standings…
Etihad · 1 day rest
Last 5
HCompeting1 rest
—No Euro
No more continental
Knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final
Out
Home
Away
Neutral
Safe — nothing left to play for
Competing — Euro / survival / cup
Eliminated / relegated
Cup tie — not league
Form
W
D
L
— last 5 league
≤ 2 days rest
Live feed loading…
Question of the week
If City beat Southampton on Saturday, the Bournemouth game has to move. Where does it land — and what does it do to their legs?
On current paper City play Bournemouth the day after the FA Cup final. That’s one day’s rest after 90-plus minutes at Wembley — nobody’s doing that. If they win the semi, the league fixture gets shunted. The likely targets are midweek 20/21 May, between Palace and Villa, but that would squash them to back-to-back-to-back with barely a day between each. There is no good answer — the FA Cup final has already poisoned the schedule.
Precedents matter. The last time a title-chasing side navigated a late FA Cup final run — City themselves, 2022/23 — the league obligingly stuck their rescheduled match into a window with five days off either side. Don’t expect the same courtesy this time: there isn’t room. Every day they take off the Palace or Villa window is a day they give back to Arsenal.
Look out for this
Both of us play Palace. Both of us play Palace while Palace have a Conference League final to save legs for.
Crystal Palace are safe in the league and, assuming they see off Shakhtar, contest a Conference League final on 27 May. Our lot host them on the 24th — three days before the final. City welcome them on the 22nd — five days before. Read the team sheets carefully. A second-string Palace either weekend is a quiet favour — but only if they do it both times.
02
Three Things That Decide It
short version for your mate at the pub
1
The Champions League tax
Arsenal play four games in eleven days across the two Atlético legs, Fulham and West Ham. That’s the brutal stretch. Rotation has to work, and so does a first XI that has never quite convinced away from home.
2
The FA Cup is the joker
If City lose the semi, their schedule opens up and Bournemouth stays put. If they win it, same-day turnaround becomes someone’s problem — ours, theirs, or the Premier League office’s. Watch Saturday closely.
3
The gap is the gap
Win out and nothing else matters. 5 in 5 takes us to 85 and forces City to match it — with the GF tiebreaker already in their favour, we probably need to outscore them too. Drop more than three points and we’re relying on City to crack — which, historically, they don’t.
“
It’s still in our hands, and it’s there for the taking.
— Arteta, post-match vs Manchester City (2-1), 19 April 2026 · via Sky Sports
COYG
→ 38
Issue 17 · Printed on the Holloway Road